Paraguay's Peña quits after Ueno Bank collapse locks customers out

Paraguay's President Santiago Peña is out. He announced his resignation Thursday in a video posted to X, saying he was stepping down to protect the country's stability, its social peace and its democratic institutions. His stated priority: the Paraguayans who trusted their savings to the financial system.

The resignation lands two days after the country's central bank moved on Ueno Bank. Regulators launched resolution proceedings for the digital lender Tuesday after finding its solvency ratio had fallen below half the regulatory minimum. Millions of customers still can't reach their money.

Peña's old business ties to the bank's owners kept the pressure building. He remained a business partner of Grupo Vázquez, the conglomerate that controls Ueno Bank, until March 2025, according to AP. He denies wrongdoing and has argued the whole affair started as a regulatory matter before curdling into a political fight.

Lawmakers were already debating impeachment when he quit, according to Reuters — over alleged conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups connected to the bank's collapse.

The crisis is bleeding into crypto pricing, too. On Bybit's Paraguay-facing peer-to-peer marketplace, one listing viewed early Thursday offered Tether's USDt at 6,942 Paraguayan guaraníes. The central bank's Nov. 4 dollar reference rate was 6,144.02 guaraníes per US dollar, putting that ask roughly 13% higher.

Peña won election in April 2023 and took office that August, on a five-year term that ran to 2028. Under Paraguay's Constitution, Vice President Pedro Alliana would serve out the rest of that term — if Congress accepts the resignation.